Six unbelievable beasts that once roamed the British Isles

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Sir David Attenborough returns to our screens tonight with his new documentary Attenborough and the SeaDragon, airing at 8pm on BBC One.

The 200-million-year-old remains of an ichthyosaur, also known as a “sea dragon” or “fish lizard”, were recently discovered on the Jurassic Coast in Dorset. In the programme Sir David joins fossil-hunter Chris Moore and his team in a mission to discover how this 52-foot-long, warm-blooded beast lived and died.

David Attenborough with the fossilised jaw of the "sea dragon"Credit:
BBC

But the icthyosaur isn’t the only fantastic beast to have roamed our lands and waters. Here are six other unlikely creatures that once inhabited (or paid a fleeting visit to) the British Isles, from a shipwrecked monkey in Hartlepool to supersized lions in Devon.

1. The shipwrecked monkey, Hartlepool

It’s not fossils, but rather local folklore that keeps the story of the Hartlepool Monkey alive.

The story goes that, during the Napoleonic Wars, a French ship wrecked off the coast of Hartlepool. The entire crew perished, except for the ship’s mascot – a monkey – who washed ashore.

The monkey, allegedly dressed in a French uniform to entertain the shipmates, was discovered by locals who had never seen a monkey (nor a Frenchman, for that matter) and promptly put the primate on trial. He was found guilty of espionage, sentenced to death and hanged on the spot.

Today, the legend lives on. Local football team Hartlepool United FC is nicknamed The Monkey Hangers, and their mascot, H’angus (real name, Stuart Drummond), has been elected as the town’s mayor three times. Last year, the team behind War Horse even staged a production called The Hartlepool Monkey, with mixed responses from Hartlepudlians.

Statue of the Hartlepool MonkeyCredit:
Getty

2. Woolly rhinoceros, Staffordshire

In 2002, an exceptionally well-preserved woolly rhino was unearthed at a quarry in Whitemoor Haye, Staffordshire.

Local quarryman Ray Davies pulled up the beast’s skull using his digger, on a site where archaeologists from the University of Birmingham also excavated Roman farmsteads and ancient burial grounds, plus remains of beetles and other mammals.

The woolly rhinoceros is thought to have walked these lands during the Ice Age, around 42,000 years ago. During this time, Britain had an Arctic tundra landscape with winter temperatures as low as -16 to -22°C.

3. The Stronsay Beast, Orkney

Earlier this week the population of Stronsay launched a campaign to attract new visitors and residents. Though the remote Orkney island has been making headlines for centuries.

In 1808, the carcass of an enormous sea creature washed onto Stronsay’s shores. At 55 feet in length, the creature (dubbed the Stronsay Beast) perplexed the team at the Natural History Society of Edinburgh, who proclaimed it a new species of sea serpent.

These days, with the benefit of DNA technology, researchers believe the Stronsay Beast was more likely to have been a member of the shark family.

4. Camels and crocodiles, London

These days the most exciting animal you’re likely to see in St James’s Park is a pelican, posing for photos or pecking at Pret wrappers. Though the central London park has seen far more exotic beasts in the past.

For years the park was used as a deer park (the grounds’ hunting lodge would go on to become St James’s Palace). When King James I became king in 1603, he landscaped the park and introduced a collection of animals including camels, crocodiles and even an elephant.

A crocodile-free pond in St James's Park, LondonCredit:
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5. ‘Supersized’ lions in Devon

The big cats alive during the Ice Age roamed a landscape that more closely resembled today’s Russian Steppe than the African savannah.

It was recently discovered that lions used to roam British soil as recently as 13,000 years ago. However, these were no ordinary lions. By comparing their skulls, researchers found that the lions that roamed British soil would have weighed around 50 stone, compared to the 39 stone of an African lion today. Remains of these oversized lions have been found in Yorkshire, London and Devon.

The research was done by Dr Ross Barnett from Oxford University’s Department of Zoology. “These ancient lions were like a supersized version of today's lions, up to 25 per cent bigger than those we know today and, in the Americas, with longer legs adapted for endurance running,” he said.

6. Polar Bears in the Scottish Highlands

This week a polar bear was born in Britain for the first time in 25 years. However, rewind a few thousand years and these beasts were native to the United Kingdom.

The remains of a polar bear were found off the shores of Loch Assynt, SutherlandCredit:
Getty

In 1927 a collection of bones were excavated from a cave at Inchnadamph, on the shores of Loch Assynt in the Scottish Highlands. After a re-evaluation in 2008, it was discovered that these are the only known remains of a polar bear in Britain.